Leave more than just footprints!

My wife is on a donation drive. A small Hindu temple in our neighbourhood is on the verge of morphing into something big. Initially starting as zinc shed with a few deities, with ever-increasing congregating believers, its presence came to be felt by the surrounding occupants. They did not mind the occasional minor inconveniences caused by its presence as they thought the divine power that it represents would, in turn, protect them. 

Soon the temple coffers grew bigger, and the pressure to flaunt their presence became necessary. Architects were summoned in, and a grand design was put forth. But then, if only they had a few hundred thousand ringgits more…

That was when the drive started. 

The general public was not so forthcoming to part with their hard-earned moolah. They have had enough of schemes that never got off the ground. And the number of holy men in sheep's clothing is just too numerous to be enumerated. They would like to see money spent on education and social causes. The lay public fails to see how big erections, loads of flowers and metric tonnes of milk in the name of fetting the Gods will improve the community. 

But wait. 

Let us look at the country's history. As time goes on, we can notice the nation's story is written and re-written to trim and prune the actual events to satisfy the majority ethnic group in the country. Slowly, the deeds of the minority are erased and slowly forgotten from the annals of Malaysian history. 

The discovery of Hindu icons in Indian mosques set the records straight of the hidden history behind these monuments. The discovery of Angkor Wat, Borobudur, and the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan tells us about the land's glorious past. Asoka's Pillar is the testimony of a glorious Mauryan Empire that existed long ago.

It is pertinent for all communities to leave their legacy to mark their territory, especially in the modern world. As the majority try to dominate the rest in their rapacious desire to create a New World Order, they try to control the narrative and whitewash the contributions of the rest. These Hindu architectural marvels will seal the presence of Hindu culture in this region.

For those who have a compelling desire to contribute to this course, please submit your donations to:

PERSATUAN PENGANUT SRI DEVI KARUMARIAMMAN

RHB BERHAD ACCOUNT: 21209500071462

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We turn right as we mature!

Dev Bhumi - Land of the Gods (2016)
Director: Goran Paskaljević

As we grew up and our eyes slowly peeled open to the changes around us, we felt ashamed. Maybe because of the western type of education taught to us, we were embarrassed by our heritage. We perceived our own culture as archaic and that our parents were living under a rock. The world, it appeared then, was changing, and we did not want to be left behind. We could wait to grow wings and pave our own paths.

We ran through the gruelling mill of life, and soon enough, we realised that there was wisdom in what our ancestors did what they did. The raging hormones of youth and the lure of material gains clouded our judgement. We tell ourselves, perhaps, they were right. We yearn to get back and make amends. But, no. The others think you are a fool and are best left alone.

This 2016 movie made by a Serbian director with co-writing input by the famous Victor Banerjee, is a slow-moving film with the breathtaking view of the Himalayas as its backdrop. Banerjee acts in the central role. It was shot entirely at the icy hills of the State of Uttarakhand in India. The story unfolds in instalments as Rahul Negi (Victor Banerjee), after a 40-year self-exile in England returns to his village. We gather that he will soon be blind after contracting an incurable disease and had returned to see his village before becoming completely blind. He plans to spend the remaining of his life in Kedarnath, Uttarkhand.

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He had fallen head over heels over the village dancer, Maya, in his youth. This was vehemently opposed by his father. A tiff had ensued, and Rahul had struck him with a sickle. He then ran away from the village and out of the country. The father had opposed the union because of the dancer's lower caste status.

Rahul is not received well, even after all these years. His brother thinks Rahul is there just to claim his due inheritance. His father had earlier died due to old age.

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As Rahul wanders around the village, he tries to understand the village. Things have not changed much. Small scale farming is still going on with primitive tools. The village school is just a ramshackle building with the bare minimum. Girls are still married off young. It looks like time stood still on them. Women are second class citizens, just seen but not heard. Child marriage is the norm. Rahul's girlfriend, Maya, for whom he had attacked his father, is still in the village. She is, however, mentally severely deranged.

The kind of living arrangement that the primitive communities had devised worked well then. Relatively exposed to the elements of Nature and extracting food from it, the brute muscular force was invaluable. Biologically, men were bestowed such physical attributes. The female gender was then assigned to home management and nursing duties. As society became more settled and commerce developed, the streetsmart skills and education were reserved for the males. With modernisation and cities becoming domesticated with no wild animals roaming around, females could no longer be contented with second-class duties. Furthermore, the 19th and 20th-century economic order slowly gave both genders the need to be educated.

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Guarding the household no longer became the domain of the community's male members. The question of security is handled off to the auspices of the Government. Nobody has to depend on the muscle strength of man anymore. There is nothing a machine or a weapon cannot do.

At the community level, the distribution of duties is decided by a system by a division that accesses the aptitude of the member of the community to put them in a specific vocation to ensure continuity of services within the community. Along the way, this aptitude system became hijacked to mean a person is born into a caste and is destined to do only the job his ancestors had been doing. Points to ponder. Of course, movies will picturise traditional Indian communities as patriarchal and caste-centric.

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An unfair tale!

Madaathy, An Unfairy Tale. (Tamil; 2021)
Director & Writer: Leela Manimekalai

It is said there is a back story behind every village deity. Madaathy is one such goddess. A representative of the feminine powers of the Universe, it is said that she is the embodiment of the spirit of a wronged low caste adolescent girl. 

The first scene itself sets the mood for the rest of the movie. A newly-wed couple, in their best attire, goes on a joyful motorbike ride to Madaathy temple. En route, the bride realises that she just started her menstruation and insists that they stop to get some kind of sanitation napkin. It would flash upon viewers that we are into something taboo. Are they going to cancel their journey or continue to the destination? We are left to wonder.

The story revolves around a group of the lowest of the Dalit community, the Puthirai Vannars. Sometimes, I wonder whether these types of communities and such levels of oppression do actually exist. According to the director/writer, the story was well researched and based on actual events when she was interviewed during the film launch. The Puthirai Vannars comprise a particular group that clean garments. Not any garment but articles of clothing used by the sick, diseased or recently deceased. Sometimes they are summoned to clean the menstrual cloths of villagers. They are cleaners but are considered too polluted to be seen in public. They must never be in full view of others and even live at the edge of the village, delineated by a river. They are too cursed to be seen.

Being impure or outcast does not cross the men's minds when they lust for these Dalit women. They are regularly raped. The Dalits have no recourse to state their predicament.

The film tells the story of a rebellious adolescent girl who runs wild in the forest and builds a crush on one of the village boys. She builds sandcastles in the air only to be gang-raped by her crush and his friends on a drunken night of the Madaathy temple consecration. The girl dies, and her spirit lives in the deity.

Agreed the storytelling, characterisation and cinematography are world-class par excellence. But sometimes, I wonder if all the numerous accolades attached to the film were given not because of its quality but rather because it puts the sub-continent and its dwellers in a horrible light. They like to assume that India is still the same backwater as was depicted in Katherine Mayo's 1927 novel 'Mother India'. They find joy in continually degrading Indian society, religions and culture and portraying the whole of India as worse than the Dark Ages of medieval and savage Europe.

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